Over the years the swim coaching community has refined its analytical tools and is better able to study the most elite swimmers and detect techniques that improve propulsion and/or minimize resistance. These techniques are adopted and incorporated into the teaching and training models for further advances in the sport. Over the last twenty years advances have been made from a straight-arm windmill type stroke to a sculling “s” pattern and most recently to techniques coined High Elbow Catch and High Elbow Stroke Path. Examples of the most recent techniques are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,743,023 issued to Topolski. The aim of his invention urges high elbow technique. It is only potentially effective when used in the water due to buoyancy. Many athletic advances are made by improved conditioning of the specific muscles used to perform the desired sports movement, as noted in the last paragraph of the summary of U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,443 issued to Askins. The concept of training specificity applies to out-of-water swim training apparatus as disclosed in several swim bench U.S. Patents:
4,674,740 Iams, et al.5,158,513 Reeves6,142,912 Profaci4,830,363 Kennedy5,354,251 Sleamaker6,352,493 Davis5,029,848 Sleamaker5,540,591 Dame6,746,431 Yoss
In particular Doane states the use of rubber tubing as a resistive mechanism. He concedes the advantage of tubing is simple implementation and its technical drawback “is that it provides no simulation of the relationship between force and the cube of hand velocity believed to exist in swimming.” All the swim bench examples above provide various types of resistive forces for conditioning swimmers in a simulated swim situation. However, none of the examples address the techniques named in Topolski which are substantiated by biomechanist Ernest W. Maglischo in his publication, Swimming Fastest, Pub. 2/2003. The advantages of the two techniques are as follows. The High Elbow Catch shortens the arm lever so the hand and inner forearm push water backwards earlier in the stroke cycle than the traditional dropped elbow catch. This creates propulsive forces for a longer period each stroke cycle. When the arm is in a dropped elbow posture it relies predominantly on the chest and shoulder muscles. The High Elbow Stroke Path places the arm in a position to more effectively engage the latissimus dorsi and back muscles. Engaging the latissimus dorsi and back muscles in addition to the chest and shoulders creates a more powerful arm stroke.
The High Elbow Stroke Path should not be confused with the concept of high elbow recovery which is the path of the arm after it leaves the water to the re-entry of the water.
A common error of training the swim stroke out-of-water is not accounting for the natural body roll that occurs in water. Duplicating the body roll of swimming while out-of-water especially in the prone position is very difficult due to many factors including buoyancy and gravity. Many of the prior art swim bench apparatus attempt to simulate body roll but do so in convoluted manner. Although this factor needs to be considered in out-of-water training, it can be simply accomplished by guiding the arm in a path relative to the swimmer's shoulder plane, not the pool bottom or water surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,268 issued to Roberts and U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,952 issued to Ortiz disclose mechanisms to guide the appendages or the hand in a set pattern. Neither easily adapt nor are designed to accomplish the three dimensional movement necessary for the desired swim pattern technique.